Pai

Apr 2, 2011

Up at 7.30am today to get the bus to Pai! We stopped off at the train station to check prices back to Bangkok on our way. Was very expensive so think were going to catch a bus. We never slept on the train anyway!

Weighed ourselves today, have both lost 1 stone! All the walking is paying off!

Waited for the bus at 10.30am. The bus!!! It was mental. The first hour was ok, just going through town. Then we hit the mountains! Apparently there are over 700 bends on the road to Pai! We can definitely believe that. It was like a road you see on the TV, with hair pin bend after hair pin bend, and sheer drops down the mountain. The bends made Kat a bit travel sick, and we were both slightly frozen in our seats because of the height! The bus could have done with a bit more power too as at times the road was so steep we weren't sure if we'd make it! Luckily we made it to Pai alive and well. Found ourselves somewhere to stay and had a look about. We booked to go elephant trekking on our last day, can't wait.

We had some dinner and then taught our neighbour our new card game!

Wooooooohoooooo! That's today's word! Today we hired mopeds! Only small ones, but Kat was so excited! Chris got the hang of it quickly, and even though Kat knew what to do, she stuck at about 15kmph for the first hour! We got along way fast! We wanted to find a waterfall, looked at the map at the petrol station and headed off. About half way there we realised we were going in the wrong direction! But kept going anyway to see Pambok falls. We then headed to the wright waterfall! Kat got a bit more confident so we didn't take all day. We were worried that Chris was going to run out of fuel, but we eventually made it to Nam Tok Mo Peang falls. Was very nice. We climbed up to the top. Chris somehow managed to dislocate his shoulder just by jumping down a rock, wasn't even using his arms!

On the way back we stopped at a cafe which must have the most beautiful view of any cafe in the world! Kat was addicted to mopedding by now so we got more fuel and went back our original direction to look at Pai Canyon and the hot springs. We couldn't actually see the hot springs from our bikes, but Pai Canyon was great. If you were brave enough there was a walkway around a cliffy bit that you could take in a big loop. We got the heeeby geeebies just standing 2 meters from the edge, so not much chance we were hop footing it around there!

Much to Kat's disappointment we had to give the bikes back, but we went for a fruit shake (very nice by the way, we're becoming quite addicted!) and chilled before dinner. We had a little sleep as England were playing football at 10pm that evening, nearly overslept but got good seats to watch hem beat Wales!

Nice lie in for today, then up and out to see Wat Phra That Mae Yen, the temple on the hill. It was 1.5km out of town, then 353 steps up to the temple. Luckily the steps were small and we both got up easier than expected! The view from the top was awesome! We just sat looking for a bit was so mesmorising. There was a monk at the Wat, he was at a gong that a Thai guy was rubbing to make it make a very loud noise, a bit like a tuning fork. With just sign language and mime the monk let us know that the guy must be praying harder as he could make the noise. We had fun having a go, but unfortunately we can't of been praying enough as only got a squeak! We had a look around the rest of the Wat, nothing spectacular but did have a cute small reclining Buddha. Kat came up with an interesting theory as how the Wat's get all their gold. The Buddha's must be pooing gold! There will be an interesting comic strip detailing this by the time we get home!!

As we hadn't been very long we decided to walk up the hill to the signposted view point. unfortunately that turned out to be a guesthouse. Bum. Back down the hill we went.

Went for a sleep and then went out for dinner and drinks. Bumped into our neighbour and met a few others watching the Scotland game and had a very fun evening.

So, our last day in Pai! Elephants!! We got picked up and drove a little out of town. There were 4 elephants there eating when we got there. We were sharing one. Getting on the elephant was strange, just climbing on its back. Chris went on the back and Kat took the front. The elephant was not comfortable! There was no saddle, just a blanket, and they have very big bony backs! Every time the elephant went downhill Kat felt like she was going to slide off, and Chris was getting sore legs so had to keep kneeling then sitting. We were both glad to get to the river. We were expecting a shower from the elephant, but he laid down and threw us off!! We had soooo much fun getting on then being thrown off the elephant! We have a very amusing DVD to show everyone!

That evening we had a nice dinner out and some drinks before packing to go to Chiang Rai the next day.